The Los Angeles Rams are 1-0 after beating the Houston Texans on Sunday and at Turf Show Times we think that your opinions about what happened are just as important as what the writers have to say. I’ve always said that the collective knowledge about football and the Rams in the comments section of the articles is always going to vastly outweigh everything I could learn in a lifetime.
The conversation starts with the article but it continues in the comments. Never miss the comments!
Matthew Stafford
got a shot in the arm in the back in time to start against the Texans, managing the offense well enough to outscore the Texans by 5 points, as the defense held Houston to three field goals and no touchdowns. What did fans have to say about the game?
I compiled some of the top comments from the Final Score and Winners & Losers columns to find out:
Comment of the Week
oldfartramfan: I’m going to hold my freaking temper here ‘cuz sure enough if I don’t…..the Fartster gets banned for life. I’ll be honest here maybe a couple people just forgot the sarcasm font…but I tend to doubt it. Some of our writers aren’t off the hook either. Simply put, I think some people have clearly lost their collective minds. McVay should be on the loser list. Ferguson should be on the loser list. Stafford isn’t a loser, but he shouldn’t be on the winners list. WTF is wrong with some of you people. Not only didn’t our starters play in the preseason, two didn’t practice. The NON WINNER Stafford was taking epidural shots in the back. His LT was recovering from blood clots. How many articles were written about whether or not Stafford would even start today? How many posts said Jimmy G might start the first 6 games and the Rams finish 5-12 for the season? First, Matt Stafford is the #10 QBs all time with over 60,000+ F’in yards. That alone makes him a winner. McVay put this team on the field with two who many thought might not play. This man has been a winner since he’s been here. Ferguson’s a rookie, leave his ass alone. Ok the game was ugly but the win was beautiful, we should celebrate it. Don’t make me come down there and start my own “loser list”.
Number one, the old “fartster” is never in danger of getting banned for life. I’ve been the managing editor at Turf Show Times for almost six years and I honestly can’t remember a single time someone was banned.
Number two, just for clarity sake to the people reading this part, the old fartster isn’t referring to JB’s Winners and Losers article because JB had Stafford in the winner’s column and didn’t mention Terrance Ferguson. He’s referring to other comments.
Now I do think it’s important to remember that questions of Matthew Stafford’s Week 1 availability were not a product of media narratives, but a reaction to many weeks of mixed signals sent by the Los Angeles Rams, in addition to context that Stafford is a 37-year-old quarterback who indeed to this day still has a back injury. Not even Sean McVay could confirm a couple of weeks ago if Stafford would be ready by Week 1.
But the worst fears were not realized and Stafford started and he played well and he survived a game in which he was sacked three times. That could work again next week against the Tennessee Titans, but Week 3 against the Eagles? Week 5 against the 49ers? Week 6 against the Baltimore Ravens?
The Rams will need more than 14 points.
PARK-FAIL
As to Ferguson, I believe fartster is referring to this comment:
oldboy1x: ferguson is a loser cant even beat out worthless parkisons and allen. give hunter a break at least we didnt trade away the rights to jihaad campbell for him
I think this is a rather hot take and not a popular opinion among Rams fans, therefore not requiring much of a defense. The Rams clearly have a long-term plan for Ferguson, otherwise they would have just cut Colby Parkinson. Given that he also missed a significant portion of training camp, it would make sense that Ferguson will have a very limited role to start his career. That could change in a month, two months, or a year. He won’t be fourth on the depth chart in 2026.
Lt. Ramathorn04: Rookies that miss significant time in camp often take a long time to get up to speed. Way too early to form a solid verdict on Ferguson.
CherGetInHer: Colby couldn’t learn the playbook at camp. Whiffs on run blocking, drops, fumbles. Can we just send him down and bring up Good Hands Mark Redman? Geez! He made a one-handed OBJ catch over the middle, converted a 4th down to the 3 yard line, and knocked 2 guys on their cans in the end zone to allow the Rams TD. Night and day. Bring up #83!
JERSEY FAIL
Jerseyramfan: I have to put my friend on the loser list, he goes to the game with an AD jersey on, meets AD, takes a picture with him but doesn’t have a sharpie to have him sign the jersey. Rookie mistake, always have a sharpie on you at a home game.
Coming from a user named jerseyramfan, this jersey story is especially gut-wrenching.
WINNER: BRADEN FISKE
BubbaKincaid: That punch out fumble by Landman was awesome….but damn that scoop up by Fiske to secure that fumble was top notch….not an easy sang fumble wise. Twas badass
Lakers4ever: watching the replay; Fiske securing that fumble is almost as impressive as the Landman punch out
29Ramsfan: I know Nate Landman is getting plenty of love for his game-saving play, and well he should, but that was also one helluva acrobatic recovery by Braden Fiske.
Lake Flaccid?
Smithdj42: I’d add Lake to the Losers list, he drew a couple of penalties while getting burnt by tight ends. He was the biggest liability on defense today.
WHITTY COMEBACK!
oldfartramsfan: We need to cut down on the dumb penalties and Whittington is a big time player.
SwaneeFourFingers: I’d add an honorable mention the winner’s list in Whittington. His two big plays were unfortunately called back, but he should still get credit for making the plays. I think he’s going to develop nicely. Obviously Puka and Adams are going to receive 70% of the target share, but I think Lil Whit is going to make the most of his small share.
Jordan Whittington played 30 snaps of offense — 5 more than Tutu Atwell — so it’s not like he’s being left out of the game plan. In fact, he’s a rather big part of the Rams in more ways than one.
Just don’t ask him to block Will Anderson.
Kyren Williams appreciation/non-appreciation
LARams4Life: KW scored our 1st TD on 4th down which was large. I thought he ran hard and moved the pile on a number of runs especially on last drive when it was 1st and 20. Houston knew rams were gonna run it to make them use their TOs. He gained 12 yards on those 2 carries which gave us a manageable 3rd and 8 which Stafford converted. Don’t think Rams even put the ball in the air on 3rd down if he doesn’t pick up 12 yards on those 2 runs.
FredDryersGhost: KW has excellent feet, balance and leverage. What he lacks in explosion, he makes up for by hitting the correct hole and making guys miss. He’s a grinder and I think McVay loves that about him.
muttonheaded: KW has great vision & patience, waits for his blocks to develop & hits the hole, well as fast as he can. Dude’s doing something right w/all those yards & TD’s
Smithdj42: 3rd most rushing yards and 2nd most rushing touchdowns in the league since he took over as a full time starter. He may not be flashy, but he’s consistent. Plenty of other things to worry about on offense.
SwaneeFourFingers: McVay talks a lot about the importance of staying ahead of the chains, Kyren does that well. He’s pretty good at eluding the TFL and creating a positive or at least neutral play.
The debate about how good Kyren Williams is will continue to rage on through this season, just as it has for the past three. I think what everybody can agree on about KW is that his negatives are very visible while his positive traits are under the radar. It’s basically the opposite of someone like Saquon Barkley or Derrick Henry, where those players have unique physical traits that make them standout in a sea of running backs, whereas Williams also does things exceptionally but he’s an “ordinary” human being (for an NFL player).
The end result is 32 touchdowns in his last 29 games.
cammoking123: Mcvay’s infatuation with Kyren is ridiculous. Im sorry. Kyren is a decent player, but he’s not a feature back.
Chilango2: McVay’s obsession with Kyren Williams is strange. He is a solid meat and potatoes RB but the Rams need a burst and big plays from the running game. Hunter has a burst and even Corum is a step faster than Williams. USE THEM!
So a lot of the conversation turned to his two backups with more exceptional traits, with Blake Corum getting 10 snaps and Jarquez Hunter getting 0. Does McVay need to change his approach to the committee in Week 2?
Ethan Evans watch
RAMSGII: I would put Evans on winner list had a couple really good punts. Both at the 5 if I recall correctly
You know which punter had by far the most punts and punt yards in Week 1? It was former Ram Johnny Hekker, who punted 8 times(!) for 395 yards with the Titans, and wouldn’t you know it, Tennessee is on deck.
Not saying that these numbers tell us a lot, but for what it’s worth the Rams were 27th in the league this week with 36 net yards per punt. Clipping two out of five punts inside the 10 is good work though.
McVay in LOSER column?
brazilian.fan: Bold take, but I’ll put McVay on the losers column.
I only watched the first 2 quarters, but I saw the same vanilla play calling from last season. He drafts tons of RBs to only use one that it’s consistent but it’s not explosive, he drafted a WR with a second round, extended him with 10M and never used him. Why???
Then he drafts a TE with a 2, says they were confident taking him with a 1st round pick if needed, and don’t play him and insists with one of his worsts FA signings ever: Colby Parkinson.
Our offense looks pretty much the same from last year, and the pieces we added to make it more explosive doesn’t seem will be used too much.
Should Sean McVay be among the “losers” after a Rams win?
MarkLZCran: I am glad to get the win and the texans are a good team with a good D but we HAVE to see more creativity from the offense. I’ll excuse it this game because you can argue that everyone is rusty but I’ll expect more variety in the play calling next sunday at Tennessee. The defense played well and came up big in the clutch, so kudos to Shula and company. So far the Nate landman signing looks good!
daruk: Agree McVay should be added on the loser list…. he was also pretty bad in situational football.
He had Stafford drop back on 3rd and 4 @ the hou 33, and ended taking a sack and knocking them out of FG range. The Rams were clearly in FG range already and with a 8 pt lead late in the game it pretty much seals the game.
Rams were lucky they ended up getting bailed out with a great defense of play by Landman.
McVay has been called the best play caller in the NFL and he’s also routinely cited as being too vanilla, too safe, and not running the ball often enough among Rams fans.
AztecaRamsfan99: Same vanilla play calling we all seen before man and the penalties were just killing every drive.
This is another debate that doesn’t seem to go away, although you might think in this case that the win would be enough to buy McVay a week out of the doghouse:
PICK WATCH SEASON
Chilango2: The Rams are 1-0 and the Falcons are 0-1, a good day to be a Rams fan. Gonna get the first pick and the last pick in the first round
airball: 1-0. ATL lost. Good week one.
The Falcons go on the road to play the Minnesota Vikings in Week 2 on Sunday Night Football.
